Summer’s a great time to soak up knowledge in the nation’s capital. Here are 10 tips for expanding your grey matter in Ottawa.

1. It’s been nearly 50 years since Dief was Chief, but you can get a glimpse of one of his most lasting legacies — the Diefenbunker. When the Cold War was at its frostiest, the then-PM commissioned a four-storey, underground city that would withstand a nuclear winter. It was equipped with a War Cabinet Room, decontamination chamber, CBC radio studio and Bank of Canada vault, and was equipped to hold 535 people for a month. Have a wander through the Cold War Store where you can purchase spy toys, gas masks and “ban the bomb” buttons.

2. Take a flyer on the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum. It features nearly 50 aircraft, including a rare section of the legendary Avro Arrow. Located at the Rockcliffe Airport, visitors can also take to the skies with tours of the capital in an open cockpit bi-plane. Goggles and helmets are provided. Check out the Living in Space exhibit and learn about daily life on board the International Space Station.

3. Caravaggio was a drinker and a brawler who killed a man in a fight. But the 16th-century Italian master painted like an angel and for the first time a major exhibition of his works are on show at the National Gallery of Canada. Next year, from May 25 to Sept. 3, the National Gallery will host “Van Gogh: Up Close,” the first major Canadian showing of the master’s works in more than two decades.

4. Wonder where your hard-earned money comes from? Get the answers at the Royal Canadian Mint. Turns out that we crank out over a billion coins for circulation annually at a high-tech plant in Winnipeg, and have manufactured more than 50 billion coins for other countries.

5. Cram a thousand years of Canuck history in a single afternoon at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. It houses 3.75 million artifacts, everything from an aboriginal village and the world’s largest indoor collection of totem poles, to a grain of rice engraved with the national emblem and a map of the country.

6. While Canada winds down its military involvement in Afghanistan, the Canadian War Museum reminds us of the country’s heavy involvement in conflicts and peace-keeping missions around the globe. The most sobering exhibit may be the full scale WWI trench reconstruction, complete with sand bags, barbed wire and dugout rats.

7. Check out the Canadian Science and Technology Museum, where visitors can step into a human-sized version of a hamster wheel. Stay and see the museum’s pet electric eel effortlessly produce its own jolt of energy.

8. For most women, a warm-weather pregnancy seems to last forever. But pity the poor Indian elephants who are in gestation for a record 646 days. Of course, the Virginia opossum, a marsupial, has to wait just 12.5 days before its babies peer up from the pouch. Discover more mystifying facts about our mammalian cousins at the Extreme Mammals exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Nature.

9. Animal lovers will want to see the cat sanctuary perched in the bushes on the edge of Parliament Hill. Have a look at the 15 statues and memorials that dot the Hill, especially The Famous Five by Barbara Paterson, which celebrates the 1929 court ruling proclaiming that women are persons. Did you know that the Centennial Flame is extinguished every fall so the liquid can be replaced with a non-toxic glycol to stop from freezing in winter?

10. Want to see where Will and Kate hung out in Ottawa? Make the trek to Rideau Hall, official residence of the Governor General. The young royals also planted a hemlock tree near the spot where Will’s grandma and mum had done similar spade work.

Ian Cruickshank is a Toronto-based freelance writer.

JUST THE FACTS

Remember your passport – Canada’s Capital Museums Passport covers Ottawa’s top stops and is good at nine museums in seven days. Price is $35 per individual and $85 per family. www.museumspassport.ca

Stay and learn – The Fairmont Chateau Laurier which sits next door to the Parliament Buildings and around the corner from the National Gallery is featuring a Caravaggio package that runs until September 11. Starting at $249, it includes overnight accommodation, two tickets to the Caravaggio exhibit and two glasses of Italian red wine. www.fairmont.com

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